Peggy wasn’t listening; she had sunk deep into the well of her own despair. ‘I’m doomed,’ she wailed. ‘I’d rather throw myself in the Mersey than live next door to him; ’tis the only thing left to me, Kathleen.’

Alice came to the kitchen door, her face still and calm, hiding her resentment at being told to cancel her hair appointment. The waters ran deep with Alice and no one ever knew what she was thinking. ‘I’ve knocked on. Is it true?’ she asked.

Kathleen nodded her head as she herded a crying Peggy past her.

‘Frank the Skank?’ Alice asked. ‘Didn’t he get promoted to sergeant because he grassed on the dock police?’

Peggy turned to her, stricken. ‘Yes, yes, he did and they are moving in next door to me, into Maura and Tommy’s house!’ Peggy almost shrieked the last words as tears sprang to her eyes.

Kathleen rolled her own eyes and shook her head. ‘Alice, is there a drop of brandy in the press? Peggy needs it in her tea. Jesus, if it’s true, we all need it, for there’ll be no more hauls from the Morry. I mean, that’s not robbing – Conor gives it to us and it’s up to him what he does with his cargo. Isn’t it?’

Alice smiled. ‘Not quite, Kathleen, he lists it on the manifest when it’s being unloaded and the dockers count it off short.’

Kathleen waved her hand at Alice. ‘Oh, I know that, I know, but it’s not as if it’s anyone’s livelihood or the crown jewels, is it? I mean, he buys it cheap and sells the leftovers and no one gets hurt, Alice. Not so with the likes of Jimmy O’Prey. Now, when he gets home – which is any day soon, so Annie tells me – that’s who Frank the Skank should be worried about. He’s turned into a real bad lad, he has.’

Kathleen shook her head. Every family depended on the hauls that came up the dockers’ steps. Every wedding, christening, party, birthday and bit of a do was, in some part, courtesy of Captain Conor and the odd crate that fell of the back of any of the other ships. It was the means to dignity, to happiness and survival for the large Catholic families who depended on the docks and the measly wages of the dock board to earn a living.

‘Frank the Skank moving into the four streets is very bad news, Alice,’ Kathleen said, ‘so we have to stop this happening, somehow. We need to get our heads together and this will be down to the women to sort.’